HON SHARON BIRD MP

MEMBER FOR CUNNINGHAM

STEPHEN JONES MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

MEMBER FOR WHITLAM

As new national home care wait list figures again remained over 100,000, Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones today slammed the Morrison Government’s ongoing neglect of our older Australians and called on them to properly address the lack of home care places.

Sadly, there are 102,081 older Australians waiting for their approved home care package as at 30 June 2020.

In the Illawarra there are currently 976 people waiting for home care packages at their approved level who had yet to be offered a lower level packages.

A year after the Royal Commission’s interim report described the waitlist for home care as ‘neglect’ and called for urgent action, it is now clear the Morrison Government has failed.

The Commissioners, in their interim report, recommended the Morrison Government urgently fix the home care packages waitlist.  The waitlist was described as cruel, unfair and discriminatory.

The Liberals have failed our elderly.

Sharon Bird said that when she first raised this issue with the Liberal Government back in 2017, the number of Illawarra residents waiting for home care was at 950.

“Three years and many false promises later there are even more Illawarra residents waiting for home care.

“This doesn’t only affect our elderly, it also affects their families with many family members forced to give up their jobs to care for their family members.

“We know many of our elderly family members don’t like asking for help – we shouldn’t, as a society, make them beg for it.

“Our elderly deserve better than waiting years to get the help they need.  The Morrison Government know that older people need help now and they are failing to act.

Stephen Jones said that the Morrison Government’s failure to protect older Australians in aged care homes from COVID-19 will only mean more people to choose to receive care at home.

“Seven years of promises to fix aged care and still no action. The waiting list grows and the funding never arrives”

“There were over 100,000 older Australians waiting for care when Scott Morrison called the Royal Commission more than two years ago. Sadly, there are still over 100,000 waiting today.

The local MPs said the time for excuses is over and the Morrison Government needs to have a heart and give our elderly the help they need.